Activities of daily living and quality of life in persons with newly diagnosed Parkinson's disease according to subtype of disease, and in comparison to healthy controls

Objective - To describe activity of daily living (ADL) and quality of life (QoL) at first visit to a neurological centre, in patients subsequently diagnosed with Parkinson's disease (PD), according to subtype of disease and compared to healthy controls. Materials and methods - 99 patients and 31 controls were included. Patients were classified into three groups according to predominant symptoms: 50 Postural instability-gait difficulties (PIGD), 37 tremor dominant, 12 indeterminate. Evaluations included ADL-taxonomy, SF-36, and the Parkinson disease questionnaire (PDQ-39). Results - Patients experienced early on limitations in ADL and QoL compared to controls. Patients with PIGD subtype had already at first visit a worse status, clinically and in ADL and QoL, than patients with tremor dominant type. Conclusions - Already at first visit to a neurological centre, patients who will eventually receive the diagnosis of PD exhibited restrictions in ADL and QoL. Patients with axial symptoms were affected most.